When most firm owners start thinking about selling, the first question is usually the same:
How much is my firm worth?
That’s a fair place to start. But after years of working with accounting firm owners through the sale process, we’ve found that the financial side is rarely what keeps people up at night.
The hardest parts of selling a firm are almost always human.
Here are five things we encourage every seller to think about before they get to the closing table.
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1. Know Who You Are Outside the Firm
For many accountants, being “the firm owner” isn’t just a job title — it’s a core part of their identity. In their family. In their community. In the way they introduce themselves at a dinner party.
When the firm sells, that shifts. And not everyone is ready for it.
The sellers who transition most smoothly are the ones who have a clear picture of what comes next — whether that’s travel, family, a board seat, part-time consulting, or yes, a lot of golf. The ones who struggle are often the ones who realize mid-transaction that they weren’t quite ready to let go.
Knowing that ahead of time doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sell. It just means you go in with your eyes open.
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2. The Succession Story You Imagined May Have Changed
For decades, the classic exit looked like this: slowly sell equity to younger partners, get bought out over time, and ride off into the sunset after a retirement dinner.
Today’s market looks different.
Firms are selling for real money — sometimes at multiples that internal partners simply cannot afford. We’ve worked with owners who had loyal, capable employees who would have loved to buy the firm, but the price tag made it impossible without saddling them with debt they couldn’t carry.
Recognizing this early helps avoid resentment later. There are creative ways to reward your rising professionals while still getting full market value — but they require planning. We’re happy to walk you through the options.
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3. You Have More Power to Protect Your People Than You Think
Every seller we work with says some version of the same thing: “I just want to take care of my employees and clients.”
The good news? You can.
Buyers want strong teams. Keeping good people happy after closing is in everyone’s interest, which means you have real leverage to negotiate for things like:
• Honoring existing PTO balances
• Maintaining employee benefits
• Retaining key staff in meaningful roles
• Equity participation for senior employees
We’ve seen sellers negotiate everything from continuity of a health plan for an expecting employee to keeping a longtime office housekeeper on after closing. The details matter — and asking for them won’t make you look weak. Buyers respect a seller who cares about their people.
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4. The Highest Offer Isn’t Always the Right Offer
Some buyers want to grow what you’ve built. Others want to restructure it entirely.
Neither approach is automatically wrong — but they lead to very different outcomes for your clients, your staff, and your legacy.
We’ve seen sellers turn down higher offers because they wanted a buyer who would run the firm the way they did. We’ve also seen sellers take the top dollar because it was genuinely life-changing for their family. Both are completely valid decisions.
The key is being honest with yourself about which outcome matters more to you before you’re sitting across the table from a buyer.
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5. Deals Evolve — And That’s Okay, Up to a Point
What you agree to at the start of a deal rarely looks identical by the end. Purchase price may stay the same on paper, but the structure can shift — seller notes, earnouts, retention targets, working capital adjustments. Some of this is manageable with a well-drafted letter of intent. Some of it is simply part of the process.
What matters is staying engaged. If the deal starts to feel like something fundamentally different than what you agreed to, it is okay to pause. It is okay to renegotiate. And sometimes, it is okay to walk away.
The goal isn’t just to sell your firm. The goal is to walk away from the process feeling good about how you did it — and confident that you made the right call for yourself, your team, and your clients.
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Thinking About Selling Your Firm?
Naab Consulting specializes in helping accounting firm owners navigate every stage of the sale process — from valuation to closing. If you’d like to talk through your options, we’d love to connect.
Contact us at Info@NaabConsulting.com or call (888) 726-6282.